Gryph is Playing: Mobile Edition (#Blaugust 26)

Quite a few Blaugustians have been posting about the mobile games they’re playing, so why not talk about what I’ve got on my phone? As promised, I’ll keep the screenshots large.

Minecraft: Big surprise I have this one, huh? The mobile controls aren’t stellar, and it’s weird playing on such a small screen, but it’s not bad for what it is. The touchscreen is very nice for placing blocks and sorting inventory, though I’m not a huge fan of the way crafting is just picking results from a list. I can see why they’d make that change for the mobile version, but simplified crafting doesn’t feel right. If you don’t expect the full Minecraft experience, there’s worse than spending a few minutes mining on your lunch break.

The Longest Journey: Is it just me, or is it crazy seeing old PC games running on this thing you can hold in your hand? Touch screens work very well with adventure games, making the controls that much more intuitive. It absolutely boggles my mind that I can have a game like this on my phone. If you never played this classic adventure game, go find it on mobile or elsewhere.

Myst/Riven: Yep, I have both of these as well, because of course I do! Same comment as above, the ease of touchscreen controls for an adventure game makes the experience flow that much more smoothly. And it’s great having these worlds in my pocket. 🙂

Faerie Solitaire: This is a title I first owned on Steam. It was a free download for a while, and I almost didn’t bother since I don’t tend to go on Steam to play solitaire. A friend of mine mentioned he’d had fun with it though, and I wound up enjoying it. The version of solitaire it uses allows cards to be placed whether higher or lower so you can get fun combos of 10,9,10,9,8,7,6,5,6,5,4,5,4 etc. There’s also a side goal of collecting and evolving pets. The game is designed to have quick rounds, which is usually what I want in a mobile game.

Ingress: I blogged about this mobile ARG a little while back, but I still haven’t managed to go out of my way to find more portals. If you’re less lazy than I am, or live in a better area, then this location-based portal-hacking game would be a lot of fun. The short version of the story is there are two opposing factions, each trying to control portals that are located at social and cultural gathering points. These portals are located at real life locations, so you need to walk there with your phone to hack them. I’d definitely recommend checking out https://www.ingress.com/ or the Ingress Help page if you have any interest at all, the setup and story is presented better there. [I blurred the portal location pics, not the game!]

Final Fantasy Record Keeper: This game is fun, and adorable, and I never remember I own it. You basically run around fighting iconic Final Fantasy battles, collecting memories and unlocking new party members as you go. I think my issue is just that it’s not something I feel I can pick up and play for a bit, and then put down. This would be a fun game on a long bus ride or waiting for an appointment, not so much on a short break at work. Though it’s possible I just haven’t spent enough time playing to get really comfortable.

Bejeweled: When I was in my early 20’s, I was good friends with a tattoo artist in the area. My then-bf and I would often hang out at his shop, and this was the game we’d all play on the computer in the back room. I’m saying I have fun memories related to the game, no matter how simple it is. 🙂

AlphaBear: I just picked this up the other night, after hearing good things from a few people. It’s cute, I do enjoy word games, and I’m glad I picked it up. The goal is to spell words with the given letters, which only last a certain number of turns before turning into stones that block your progress. You make the bears bigger by using letters next to them, and bigger bears give you a bigger score. Also, you collect bears as you play which give fun perks depending on which is selected.

TripleTown: Another simple game I recently picked up. Match three of an item and they combine to make a better one. Grass -> bushes -> tree and so on. I haven’t played much yet, but it’s cute enough so far.

Fallout Shelter: Ok, so, I got this game the moment it was out. As in I was stalking the app store waiting for it to appear. It seemed fun at first, and I generally like that type of game. But, I haven’t gone back to it since that first day. I think it’s a combination of things, but mostly that it’s another one I can’t just play for a few seconds and put down. I know it runs in the background and all that, but it’s a game that works best when you can keep half an eye on it. Working where I do, I really can’t do that – and if I’m home there’s other games I’d rather play. I completely get why it’s become so popular, it’s just not quite what I want in a mobile game.

That’s the list for now, though I’m still excited for the upcoming mobile version of Fallen London.

I find it interesting that I tend to enjoy either super fast, very “mobile” games, or mobile versions of pc games…but not something in-between like Fallout Shelter. Maybe it’s just that I prefer games I can easily put down at any moment. Otherwise I’m prone to saying, “Just a sec, let me finish this first,” at work. >_> No, seriously, I did that once not even thinking about it.

Safer, perhaps to stick with games I practically have memorized, or that don’t require much investment. If I know I’m going to be waiting somewhere for a while, I usually have a book with me, so that takes out that time for playing more involved mobile games.

Any ports of old games I should try? Any new ones that are super fun? Let me know and I’ll check ’em out sometime. 🙂

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2 comments on “Gryph is Playing: Mobile Edition (#Blaugust 26)”

Longest Journey on mobile, that’s nuts. I’ve been slowly replaying it on PC over the last little while. It might actually look better on a smaller screen (the resolution is terrible on a big screen), but it seems a bit loquacious for mobile.

It really is nuts. I started off downloading it for my tablet, but couldn’t resist trying it out on my phone. I think it’s partly perception that makes it so weird, when the game involves multiple worlds and a fleshed-out story and characters, it “feels” bigger. It’s also one of the reasons I believe mobile gaming has the capability to give us great stories, if something like this can fit on a phone, what else could?